Thoughts about writing, and the universe.
A week ago, just as I was finalizing last week's blog post, I received an email letting me know that a magazine wanted to publish a short piece I had submitted to them. Oh? They do? Oh! Oh my. My that feels good. It has taken me some time, some grief, and lots of effort.... Continue Reading →
These enormous slugs. Disgusting, beautiful, unassuming, and everywhere. If self-judgement is alive, it is a pathogen. Risk factors for infection include writing. The exposed words form a nutrient-rich agar for the viral body, which divides and grows from word to paragraph to the whole self. Treatment is haphazard. We manage with uncertain steps. Some say... Continue Reading →
When a story gets stuck, I try to see it as an invitation. Amid the frustration, I seek what I have missed. What central element have I bypassed in this story that makes it tick slower, slower, slow until it halts? Often for me, the culprit is the undeveloped character. I plan the story and... Continue Reading →
I had a good reminder yesterday. The UWC network has been running a series of webinars these past few weeks from alumni, teachers, National Committee representatives, bringing the community together for discussions and presentations. It's been incredible, seeing the community come alive in this way--I've never felt so connected to the larger UWC network, one... Continue Reading →
It is hard for me to just not finish a book. I hem and haw, delay. I grudgingly slog another page. There are so many books I want to read, after all--why agonize, insist on finishing one I'm not enjoying? Is it the uncertainty of how to mark it on my Goodreads account, or something... Continue Reading →
This last week at school was a different theme: no classes, the first years busy with a first-aid course and Model United Nations, for which they dressed their best and debated the future of our world. The second-years, meanwhile, had project week, and my husband and I led a small group in a three-day journey... Continue Reading →
My students and I these past two weeks have been exploring language and gender. We have considered how women and men might use language differently (conclusion: any differences there are are slight), and how language represents gender (see this fascinating though unsurprising, and ultimately disturbing look at the words books have most frequently used to... Continue Reading →
This post is part of the monthly #AuthorToolboxBlogHop, where you can find a great cadre of writers sharing wisdom, tips, and inspiration. Check out these great writers! One year ago this month, I tentatively made my first four short story submissions to literary magazines. I'd done a little research and spent a little time, but... Continue Reading →
Last week, I began reading Alan Hollinghurst's The Line of Beauty, a brilliant tour of Thatcher-era upperclass London, narrated in close third-person focus on unabashed gay hedonist Nick Guest. Although the window into Nick's world is undoubtedly fascinating, it is Hollinghurst's writing that I have been most entranced by. And that's what I'd like to... Continue Reading →
Harsh feedback taken too personally caused me to stop writing for four years. Angry, afraid, but mostly ashamed, the voice of self-doubt grew enormous in me, any time I had an idea or a vague vision of a story--hold off, I told myself. Wait to write the perfect thing. So many of the barriers to... Continue Reading →
Words like trees 